Our pledge: Labour will keep the same low Council Tax

School sibling consultation, and Tooting Athletics Track may be cut

Feelings are running very high about the plans change the sibling policy for schools admission. If you have an opinion on this, or experience of how it would affect you, please send in your views to the consultation by October 31st

Please encourage other parents to send in their views too.

Would this have split up your family if applied to you, or is it a fair solution to a problem which leaves parents unable to get into very local schools?

“The council is proposing that sibling priority should only apply in future to children who live within 800 metres of the school. Siblings residing further away would no longer have priority over children living closer.

Data from the 2014 round of admissions show that of 712 children who were offered a place at a community school on the basis of sibling priority, 174 lived more than 800 metres away from the school

The council believe the proposed approach would strike a fairer balance as the majority of families with siblings would not be affected by the change.

If, after consultation, the change is agreed, the council will urge church schools and other state schools responsible for their own admissions, like academies and foundation schools, to consider similar changes.

Tooting Athletics Track was on a leaked document showing some of the potential cuts to services to come in the next couple of years. Other cuts could be libraries, day centres and Battersea Lesuire Centre. These were the focus of the Council meeting last week and the Conservative Leader couldn’t deny that any cuts could be possible. We will oppose cuts to crucial front line services that don’t need to be made, so watch this space.